Commentary: Northwestern over Louisville, 11-8

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Upstart Louisville, Big East champs playing in their first NCAA tournament, gave Northwestern a fight before bowing out 11-8 in a second round game at Lakeside Field in Evanston. The Cardinals reached the second round by virtue of an exciting double overtime win over Ohio State two nights earlier, with the winning tally coming off the stick of Nikki Boltja, their leading scorer. On Sunday afternoon, however, Boltja was largely held in check by the faceguarding efforts of Northwestern’s Kerri Harrington, and was not much of a factor in the Cards offense.

The Cards found other ways to score. In the early minutes of the game, Louisville looked much the faster and more aggressive of the two teams, as Cortnee Daley kept finding open space in front of the Wildcat net and was the beneficiary of quick passes from her teammates. The ‘Cats defense eventually settled down and slowed the Louisville attack, but their offense continued to be error-prone and ineffective. They were down 3-1 with less than 13 minutes left in the half when freshman Sheila Nesselbush muffed a pass in the offensive zone for a turnover, but immediately stick-checked the ball back into her crosse and went straight to goal to score. It was one of those scrappy plays that can give a team a big psychological boost and Jess Carroll followed up shortly after with an unassisted goal off of a dodge from the edge of the fan, her second impressive move of the day.

The Wildcats led 4-3 at the half, but the Cards countered quickly with a goal from Kaylin Morrisette and another from Daley, her fourth of the afternoon. It was at this point that Kara Mupo came alive for the Wildcats as they spun off four straight goals, three by Mupo and the other by Alsyysa Leonard on a smart feed from Lydia Cassada. The run was broken by a free position goal by Faye Brust, but the Cards were unable to generate any momentum from that point onward.

The game featured a contest between two of the best draw control specialists in the country. Leonard, who earlier this spring established herself as the all-time Division 1 career leader in draw controls, came into the game with 144 for the season, while Morissette, a sophomore who played last summer for the Canadian National Team, had 166. (Both stats are incredible numbers, although the season’s best performance came from Jessica Karwacki of Robert Morris University, who finished the year with an insane 216 DCs).

In this particular instance, experience won out, as Leonard snared nine draw controls to Morissette’s three, and it was the preponderance of possession by the Wildcats that made the biggest difference in the game. As the second half wore on, Northwestern continued to stretch the Louisville defense, which was forced to extend itself as the ‘Cats played keep-away. No doubt fatigued by their overtime exertions of two nights before, the Cards were unable to turn the tide.

The tournament experience was an important step for Louisville. The Cards have a number of their best players, including Brust and Morissette, coming back next year as they move out of the Big East and into the maelstrom of Atlantic Coast Conference competition.

Northwestern now moves on to the quarterfinals to play Florida for the third time this season. The first two games were heartbreakers: one goal losses at home in which, in one case, a Wildcat rally barely failed and, in another, a Florida rally barely succeeded. Now the Wildcats must travel to Dizney Stadium in Gainesville. It is a place where they have never won and, what is more, their losses have been progressively more lopsided. Bad odds by the looks of it, but one counts out teams coached by Kelly Amonte Hiller only at one’s peril.